Yahoo! Search Customer Care

[Decius]

I have over 120 thousand URLs listed in Google and have authority status on my main domain. I used to be even higher in rankings in Yahoo and for the last few years traffic from them has dropped to 0. I recently checked to see what the deal was and not even one URL (including the base domain) is listed in Yahoo.

Obviously, there has been some sort of serious glitch or choice made on the part of Yahoo to remove, entirely, every single page on my domain.

I contacted Yahoo customer care, and after some time I received a cookie cutter response explaining to me how robots.txt works.

On the other hand, I was able to receive a response directly from a Yahoo employee via another forum and they said that my site violates guidelines (but being as vague as possible without hinting to what or how it is in violation).

Since this is certainly frustrating and seemingly unfair (since I do not participate in any black hat SEO and to whatever extent I am optimized it is less risky than every one of my competitors that IS listed in both Yahoo and Google) I am at a loss.

Certainly I feel like ranting and raving and complaining, but in the end, my only goal is to get these people to spend 2 minutes to actually investigate the problem and help me solve it. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to achieve this in an expediated manner?

[martinibuster]

...my only goal is to get these people to spend 2 minutes to actually investigate the problem...

I'm fairly certain that no search engine will give you detailed personal advice on how to de-spam your site and get back into their engine.

...and to whatever extent I am optimized it is less risky than every one of my competitors...

Maybe I'm wrong but your post leaves the impression that you are calling your site white because it's a lighter shade of gray than your competitors. Your site, for whatever reason, was singled out. Your bad luck, good luck for your competitors. The rules are the same for everyone, no sliding scale.

Sites, including yours, get away with a lot of things, sometimes for years. Once you're singled out however, getting back in is a matter of a hand review. In my experience, a hand review is stricter than an algorithmic review. From what I have seen, they're going to be looking at stuff that an algo won't catch, including site architecture and it's relation to how thin the content is, link exchange issues, what kinds of backlinks you have (i.e. paid), and other problems.

[Decius]

That was very helpful. Your presumptions that I am looking for advice from Yahoo on how to "de-spam" my site, because a "site like mine" that "gets away with a lot of things" must have been the reason you didn't actually address my concerns. Why post a response if the response is just meant to bash someone you don't know because you're frustrated with spammers?

Still looking for information from experts who won't assume I'm a whiney spammer (without at least knowing that I'm a whiney spammer).

[martinibuster]

I am trying to help you based on what you posted, which is why I quoted your post to show exactly what I'm responding to. If you feel what you wrote is inaccurate then feel free to clarify it.

Your presumptions that I am looking for advice from Yahoo on how to "de-spam" my site...

Not a presumption, just going by what you wrote:

my only goal is to get these people to spend 2 minutes to actually investigate the problem and help me solve it.

If you feel that doesn't accurately describe what you meant, then clarify.

...because you're frustrated with spammers?

You yourself posted that your site is optimized lighter than your competitors. What one person considers normal optimization won't necessarily pass a hand check.

My advice to you, based on my actual experience helping sites get unbanned, which I'll repeat to you once more, is to get your site squeaky clean before you attempt a hand check. That's not to say your site is unclean.

For instance, a little thing like a shortage of original content is enough to keep you from passing a hand check.

Good luck.

[Decius]

After another follow up, I just received another cookie cutter response from Yahoo explaining to me how results can sometimes fluxuate as the algorithm is changed.

Is this for real?